Concerning Elves
by PhantomGrimalkin
Summary: After Pixel tries to find out how Robbie's latest scheme came to be, questions are raised about the nature of the Master of Disguise's inventions. Sporta/Robbie slash later on
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is a sequel to my other story, The Problem With Heroes. You should probably read it first: .net/s/5684535/1/The_Problem_with_Heroes

* * *

The young boy closed his front door quietly, though not so quietly that his parents hadn't heard. He mumbled a thoroughly non-convincing "I'm fine" to them, not even pausing as he trudged to his room.

As soon as the door closed he flung the bat to the floor with a snarl. He glared at it for a few moments- it was unharmed. Of course it was. He'd built it for baseball- it was designed to hit even Sportacus's pitches and to be tossed to the ground. Being thrown to a floor covered in carpet and clothes wasn't going to hurt it.

Pride flickered in Pixel's chest, but was quickly replaced with anger.

"Why can't I just be normal?" he growled, tossing off his goggles, "Why can't I just play that game like a _normal_ person rather than thinking of ways to make a machine to do it for me?"

He sat down on his bed bitterly. Around him were parts of the machine he was planning to make his bed for him. It would even be able to track when the sheets needed changing and put on new ones.

Pixel frowned at it. That wasn't normal. Everyone else in Lazytown made their beds themselves. They didn't need help to do it. (Except, possibly, for Stingy who probably had maids to do that- but that was still _people_ making the beds, not macines)

The boy started looking around his room at what else people didn't need. A machine to brush their teeth for them. Or, well, most of his computer things, really. He supposed he could keep his computer and gaming system- but maybe he didn't need all the other machines. The boy touched a hand to the mini-computer on his wrist nervously.

That was definitely something that no one else in Lazytown had. It was also his prized possession, along with the goggles. His father had made it for him when he was younger, even taught him how to upgrade it so he could make it into whatever he wanted, which he had.

Pixel ran a finger over its surface for a few moments. If he wanted to stop being such a geek and start being like everyone else, that would have to go. Gingerly he took it off and placed in on the desk.

"The others will probably be at Stephanie's or in the treehouse," he told himself quietly as he started out the door, hesitating to look back at his room full of gadgets and gizmos that he'd have to find some way to get rid of without dismantling and putting back together in machines that are even more awesome.

This was not going to be easy.

* * *

"Stingy, I thought you'd learned to be less greedy by now!" Stephanie complained as she, Trixie, and Ziggy stood underneath the treehouse that Stingy, once again, had decided was _his_.

"But this tree house is _mine_!" Stingy reminded them with a huff, "and no one gets up here without _my_ permission!"

"If you don't let us up now, I'm going to go to your house and rip up every last one of your comic books!" Trixie threatened, shaking her fist at the boy.

The young brunette gaped for a few minutes, along with the other two children who hadn't heard Trixie actually make a threat like that in quite some time, before sniffing haughtily, "Fine- but you still won't be able to come into _my_ tree house."

"Why don't you just _ask_ permission to go up rather than yelling at him?" Pixel asked quietly before either of the girls managed to get out a retort. Which was good, because the best they had was that they'd go and get Sportacus to make him let them up- and that was starting to feel a bit cheep as they got older.

"What?" Stephanie asked blankly, turning to the boy who had only recently turned up.

"He won't let anyone up without his permission- why can't you just ask permission rather than yelling at him?"

"Because it's _not _his tree house!" Trixie snapped, "I'm not asking permission to go into a tree house I built!"

"Yeah, that isn't fair!" Stephanie agreed, putting her hands on her hips. She would have looked considerably more like Sportacus when she did that, if the local hero ever managed to look angry or like he was running out of patience.

Pixel sighed, his first attempt at being like everyone else was not working out as well as he might have liked. He didn't really see what the big deal was. Yeah, Stingy was being a spoiled brat again (apparently near-death experiences weren't enough to beat that out of him), but wasn't figuring out a way to help Sportacus more important than their pride?

The boy smiled shyly at that, "Hey- we all want to help Sportacus, right?" He looked up at Stingy, who was pretending not to follow the conversation. "Right?" he shouted up at the younger boy.

"Yes… But the tree house is still mine!"

"But but but but but, STINGY!" Ziggy yelped at this, "What about _Sportacus_? Don't you want to_ help_ him?"

There was a moment of silence as the 4 children waited and Stingy felt guilt gnawing at him.

"Oh, fine!" he finally grumbled, lowering the ladder back down. The other children climbed up happily, and were soon well into talks about how to get Sportacus out of this latest scrape.

Somehow, simply not playing with toys for a while failed to come up.

* * *

"This is going to be tough to figure out," Stephanie said after an hour or two of brainstorming.

"I guess we're going to have to ask the adults for help after all," Ziggy offered.

"Yeah, because that went _so_ well last time," Trixie grumbled, rolling her eyes. An uncomfortable silence settled and Stingy fidgeted awkwardly until Stephanie shot Trixie a look. "Not that it was your fault or anything, Stinge, all the adults did it," she added sullenly. The brown-haired boy seemed to be a bit relieved by that.

"I'm surprised Pixel hasn't suggested that he could invent something to fix it," Stephanie teased, trying to break the tension. For the first time in the last hour, attention turned towards the boy who had been sitting in the corner trying not to say something else that would get everyone annoyed with him.

"Do you think you could, Pixel?" Ziggy asked eagerly.

Trixie chuckled, "He'd probably just make a bunch of equipment to play the games _for_ us."

Pixel felt his cheeks heat up, but his skin tone meant that most of the people wouldn't notice. "Actually," he mumbled, "I was thinking about taking a break from inventing and all that."

The other children stared at the self-proclaimed gizmo guy for a few moments. Stephanie placed a hand to his forehead. Pixel's heart fluttered.

"Well, you don't have a fever!" she said with a nervous giggle, taking her hand back and looking at the others for reassurance. She didn't know Pixel as long as they did, although she had known him for several years now. Maybe it wasn't as odd as she thought it was.

"Maybe he's a pod person," Stingy suggested seriously, "I've read all about them in my comic books."

Ziggy let out a squeak of terror and hid behind Stephanie, glancing nervously out at Pixel.

"Oh come off it, Ziggy!" Trixie scolded, "Pod people aren't real."

Stingy meant to object that they _were_ real and he _knew_ this because his comic books said so, but Trixie shot him a look when he opened his mouth, and decided it was better not to.

"Come on, guys, people can change! There's nothing wrong with that," She flashed a smile at Pixel, "I'm glad that you're trying this, Pixel!" The boy's heart fluttered again, while his stomach twisted uncomfortably.

"Um, thanks," he mumbled quietly, looking away.

"I don't think we're going to be able to think of anything to help Sportacus right now," Trixie said, and they all nodded in agreement.

"We should try to think of some more things, maybe meet back here tomorrow after school," Stephanie suggested. That seemed to work for everyone, and the children were soon filing out of the treehouse, some somber, some chattering excitedly about something or other, Stingy huffing that the treehouse was his and no one was allowed to forget that.

Pixel started walking towards his house, while Trixie followed him. The two walked in silent for awhile, before Pixel stopped. He looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Where's your computer?" Trixie asked him quietly, gesturing to his wrist.

"I told you," he replied indignantly, "I'm taking a break from all that. I want to be like everyone else for a change."

Trixie snorted, "Since when?"

"Since always!" Pixel grumbled, "I hate being an outcast here."

The girl looked at him sadly for a moment. He had a point there. After a moment of this the girl shook her head, "You shouldn't have to pretend to be something you aren't just to make friends." Pixel said nothing to that, "And it's not going to be like this forever- you're going to get to college and have _loads_ of people who are _so jealous_ of all the great stuff you've invented!"

Pixel's eyes brightened slightly at that thought, then shrugged again. "Stephanie is happy that I'm doing this."

Trixie grimaced, "Oh, not this again! You need to start liking a girl who isn't _in love_ with someone else!"

Pixel grinned, "Is this you trying to say that you've been in love with me all along and I should go out with you instead?"

"Don't be gross!" Trixie gagged, punching his arm, "You've been watching too many girly movies!"

The two laughed for a few minutes at the thought before they remembered why they were here. "Seriously though, Pix. I've known you way longer than Pinky has and I know how much that computer and everything else means to you. Maybe you shouldn't show off your inventions so much- but everyone's always impressed with what you can do with videogames and computers. You don't have to give up what you love to fit in."

Pixel nodded quietly. "I suppose so."

Trixie smiled, "you know what you could do to be popular _and_ not give up inventing?" The boy looked up uncertainly, this _was_ the girl known for playing pranks on even the mayor. "You could _invent_ something to fix the problems with Sportacus's crystal."

"That's… actually a good—" he frowned for a moment. Like Sportacus, he was no longer taken in by Robbie's "disguises" and knew it was him the instant the tall man appeared earlier that day. Pixel had just been too wrapped up in self loathing to really consider what was going on.

"I have to go," he said suddenly, rushing off in the middle of Trixie's "Well of _course_ it's a good idea! All my ideas are brilliant!"

"Oh, that was so _RUDE!_" she shouted after him, crossing her arms and huffing grumpily. She glared at the ground for a few moments before smiling.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Erk, REALLY sorry for the giant delay. Hopefully there won't be as much until next time. And thank you to anyone who reads this as well as to the commenters!

* * *

"Trixie!"

Before the girl had a chance to go on her way, someone called after her. She turned around to see Sportacus running (or, rather, doing an elaborate series of flips and such) towards her. Sportacus seeking her out was fairly unusual. Her mind flipped to the list of things she'd done in the last few days that he would probably want to scold her for. What could he have actually found out about though?

"Oh, hey Sportacus," she said with an awkward smile, trying to remain casual.

"Pixel was just here- do you know where he went?" The elf asked.

Trixie breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't there about anything she'd done. Then she furrowed her eyebrows. "Pixel?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yes, he was—" Sportacus started a bit uncertainly.

"I know, I know," Trixie interrupted, "he was here- I just suggested that he could use an invention of his to fix whatever's going on with your crystal and the toys, and he ran off. I don't know where he went."

"He did?" Sportacus asked before Trixie could ask why he wanted to talk to the boy, a broad grin spread across his face, "that's great!"

"It is?" Trixie agreed uncertainly, surprised at the excitement. "What did you want to talk to him about?"

"I was just going to suggest that he do that," Sportacus replied, "I know that he loves inventing but doesn't fit in well here- I was hoping he could fix this, then the kids would see that his inventions aren't that bad."

Trixie stared at him for a moment, causing the elf to fidget nervously and start to wonder if maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

"You know, I think you were lying when you said you were only a _slightly_ above average hero," she informed him with a smirk.

Sportacus smiled at her, "Well, I wouldn't be a very good hero if I wasn't at least a bit modest."

Trixie burst out into laughter at the thought of Sportacus, who couldn't take 5 steps without doing an elaborate move, being what most people would consider modest.

* * *

It didn't take long to find where the kids had left the toys earlier that day. They hadn't even bothered to clean them up, they just left them where they usually played baseball and ran off to try and solve the latest problem. Pixel picked up the ball and frowned slightly, turning it over in his hand. This would be easier if he had more experience with sports, but it certainly seemed like a normal baseball. The other kids had thought the same thing. So what was wrong with it?

Pixel placed the ball in his pocket, now uncomfortably empty because it wasn't filled with tools and the like, and picked up the bat next. It was a normal children's bat, but it was also metal. Pixel turned it over in his hands and frowned. Maybe there was something about that.

The boy looked around nervously, not sure whether or not he was allowed to take these things but needing to if he was to get to the bottom of this. No one was around. There were a few houses, but it looked like no one was in a room facing him.

"This is silly, we all play with these and they just left them out. I'll give them back to anyone who asks me if I know where they are," Pixel told himself, slinging the bat over his shoulder gingerly before heading home.

"Oh, you're just in time for dinner, dear," Pixel's mother said as he opened the door. The boy winced slightly, he had hoped to be able to sneak up to his room. She raised an eyebrow when she looked at him, shook her head and walked over to plant a gentle kiss on his forehead. The almost-teenage boy squirmed slightly with a, "_Mo-oom…_"

"Well that's odd," she muttered to herself, ignoring his comment and pressing her hand to his forehead, "it doesn't _feel_ like you have a fever…"

"What? I'm fine!" Pixel objected, feeling his cheeks heat.

She crossed her arms and raised the eyebrow again, "My son- who's been inventing since he could hold a screwdriver- walks in carrying a _baseball_ _bat_ and his computer and goggles are nowhere to be seen. Are you _sure_ you're fine?"

The boy glanced uncertainly at the bat and hoped she didn't notice the ball in his pocket. It _was_ a bit weird… "I… I wanted to try and be like everyone else" he muttered quietly, refusing to look at his mother.

She sighed gently and ruffled the dreadlocks she'd spent so long putting in his hair. "Sweetheart, I know you just think I'm your mother and I have to say this- but you truly shouldn't try to change who you are just to make people like you. There's gonna be plenty of people who like you for _you_._"_

"Heh, yeah," Pixel said, refixing his hair, "I think I'm starting to work that out myself." He scratched his cheek as he tried to avoid looking at his mother, who was now smiling proudly at him, "Do you mind if I eat dinner in my room? There's something I want to work on."

"I'd really prefer you didn't," she said uncertainly, "is it anything that can't wait half an hour?"

Pixel looked at the bat in his hand and sighed. His mother was right, it could wait half an hour.

* * *

Half an hour later, after a rather awkward meal where he once again got the "be yourself" speech, Pixel was in his room with the baseball and bat, ready to look into it. All thoughts of giving up on technology were lost as he strapped his wrist computer back on and smiled at how comfortable it felt.

The smile faded as he moved his arm past the baseball to grab something, though. His brows furrowed. His computer started acting strangely when it was near the baseball. He glared at the baseball, there was one thing Pixel knew to cause that sort of reaction. The boy placed the baseball down on his bed, away from any of his other tech stuff, took off his computer and placed it on the desk- hoping it hadn't really been damaged.

The boy then over to his shelves and picking up a magnet from one of those kids' science kits he'd loved so much when he was younger. He brought it to the baseball and, sure enough, the baseball was pulled towards the magnet. He separated them and turned the magnet around. This time, the baseball was repelled.

So that was it. Robbie'd found a way to magnetize the balls. And the bat was probably set up to make sure that it'd repel the magnetized balls so that when it went to hit them, the ball would just swerve.

Pixel frowned and rolled his eyes. He might have been impressed if he'd figured this out _before_ putting his wrist computer near a magnet of unknown power.

Well, he would have been impressed.

He _was_ impressed, actually. Besides, any damage was nothing he couldn't fix.

Pixel picked up the baseball again and smiled to himself. This would require a bit more research.

* * *

"I really hope he doesn't hope this place is a secret," Pixel muttered to himself as he walked to the entrance to Robbie's lair. It had taken some effort to convince his mother to let him go out so late. Well, some effort and a few… slightly less than honest statements. If his mother knew what he was up to, she certainly wouldn't have let him out of the house.

But nevermind that, he was there now. Pixel frowned at the top of the pipe. Was he supposed to knock? Was there a door, er, pipe-bell he was missing? Should he just go in? The manners he'd been taught growing up really fell short when it came to people whose "front door" consisted of a pipe entrance. Eventually he decided that knocking was the best solution.

Inside the self-proclaimed villain's lair, Robbie was feeling terribly pleased with himself. He'd made himself a particularly delicious cake and was now enjoying a piece. Earlier he'd set up another plan to get rid of Sportacus forever. And now that his lair was sound-proofed, he had dug out his old record player and had a lovely opera playing as he relaxed in his fuzzy orange chair.

Of course, somehow it _would_ have to be ruined, the villain thought to himself as he heard 3 knocks resonate down the tube. He grumbled to himself, sitting up and stomping over. He climbed up the pipe and answered it with an unpleasant demand of "What?" before bothering to see who it was.

The boy looked unphased by his gruffness, and Robbie visibly softened upon seeing Pixel for a moment, before raising an eyebrow, "Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"How did you make this?" Pixel asked, shoving the baseball into Robbie's face and ignoring the question.

"What?" he asked, unable to form any other reaction as he stared at the baseball.

"You made it, didn't you? Or you made it magnetized. How did you do it?" Pixel insisted as Robbie's brain turned to his current scheme and started to realize what the boy was talking about.

"I…" Robbie began, then sighed, "There's no point in trying to insist that wasn't me, is there?" Pixel said nothing, only fixed the villan with a determined look. "Alright, fine. But come back at a reasonable hour." Robbie said and, before Pixel could protest, closed and locked the hatch.

Pixel looked dejected for a moment. What did Robbie even consider a reasonable hour? After a few moments, he brightened up as he realized what the man's words meant. Robbie had agreed to answer his questions- and possibly tomorrow!

Pixel rushed home, eager not to end up grounded for being out too late. Not now that he had big plans for tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Robbie's home, you could call it, was not what Pixel expected. He expected it to be like the lair of a mad scientist out of a black and white horror movie. Pixel eyed the tubes on the wall, recognizing a few of the "disguises" Robbie had used there, although the Marie Antoinette outfit was one that he'd yet to see. '_I suppose 18__th__ century French outfits aren't often useful disguises_,' he thought to himself. Seeing a large, fluffy chair was hardly a surprise, but the tool benches didn't look like what he'd expect. In fact, he didn't really see any tools like he was accustomed to around. And he couldn't help but shake the feeling that the walls were _shimmering_ somehow.

"What do you want to know, then?" Robbie asked grumpily. He tried to justify his being grumpy that Pixel had interrupted his nap, but he took so many naps that it would be hard for him not to. Since when did Robbie Rotten need an excuse to be grumpy, anyways?

"I want to know how you made this- or what you did to it to make it magnetized. And I want to know how you made the bat!" Pixel said, holding the two up to the villain.

Robbie frowned and crossed his arms, "I'm not sure I want to tell you. What do I get out of it?"

"I…" Pixel trailed off and his face fell. He loved sharing knowledge and showing how the things he made worked, he hadn't thought that someone might need a _reason_ to do that. Of course, this _was_ Robbie Rotten. The boy mentally kicked himself for not expecting it.

Robbie felt a pit in his stomach as the boy's face fell- he _did_ want to encourage the boy. He just didn't want the brat to think that it'd be okay to come visit whenever he felt like it. He already had to deal with a certain Sport Elf who thought that was the case.

"I mean, if I tell you then I'm just sharing my methods, that doesn't seem like a fair trade to me," he added hautily and, as he hoped, realization slowly dawned on the boy's face.

"What if I tell you how I made my bat, then?" Pixel offered with a smile.

"I suppose that'll be… acceptable," the villain replied with a shrug.

Not long after, Pixel returned eagerly to the lair with the bat that he had made, elated to have someone to show it off to. Someone who'd understand, even! He was so excited, that he started explaining bits of it so fast that Robbie had to remind him to breathe a few times.

Robbie had been uncertain about this, but felt an odd happiness in seeing how excited the boy was. At the same time, he also started to feel disappointment in himself- the way Pixel made gadgets wasn't at all like what Robbie did. The boy had clearly painstakingly put things together, carefully choosing the parts and then programming the code to make it work. Robbie didn't do any of that- he threw his inventions together with a hammer most of the time. With these he'd just thrown them into his Inventor Microwave and it came out like he needed.

This child put him to shame, and he wondered if he'd ever feel right calling himself an inventor again.

"Now tell me how you did it," Pixel said eagerly after he'd finished explaining it. Robbie paled, which wasn't terribly obvious because he was already a very pale man.

"Well, I, suppose…" he started babbling, and Pixel frowned.

"Robbie…" he said, folding his arms over his chest. Robbie glared at him for a moment, hating that a _child_ could do that to him and make him feel properly scolded.

"Fine," Robbie muttered, "But you won't like it."

"What do you mean?"

Robbie didn't say anything, he just went over and pulled out his Inventor Oven, refusing to look at the boy now.

"And?" Pixel prompted, looking at the contraption skeptically.

"And…" Robbie started off with a sigh, "I put the toys in there and pushed a few buttons and they came out the way I needed them."

Pixel paused. He looked at the machine and then at the tall man who still refused to meet his gaze. "You're… serious?"

A quick jerk of the head up then back down again.

"It's also how I make some of my other inventions, but I usually just make them by grabbing random parts and hitting them with a hammer and somehow it all works out," Robbie finally admitted, throwing his hands up in defeat before storming off to his chair and sinking down in it.

"But that's impossible," Pixel said with a nervous laugh, "I mean- the machines you've made… You can't just _throw them together_… not with a _hammer_."

"Sorry, kid," he muttered bitterly, "I'm afraid it's true."

"No, see, it can't be- that _doesn't happen_," Pixel said desperately, "_It doesn't work like that._" Robbie looked up, concerned. The boy looked a little more frantic, "What you're talking about… That's _magic_."

"Yeah, I guess it is…" Robbie said, not feeling any better about himself.

"But magic isn't real," Pixel reminded him.

Robbie just looked at the boy with even more concern. He had no idea how to handle this situation. "Did you… ever wonder why my walls glitter?"

Pixel nodded nervously.

"It's because…" he hesitated before adding a name, "someone cast a spell on my entire home to keep out outside noise, so that the kids' playing won't bother me."

"That's… impossible," Pixel said again, and looked up, desperately listening for sounds of outside. He hadn't noticed before, but before he got there Ziggy and Stingy were having a pretty bad argument and, once he'd gotten into Robbie's place, he couldn't hear any of it. It couldn't have just stopped…

"No, it's just, special soundproofing," Pixel said firmly. Despite this, he walked over to a stool and sat down in it, placing a hand on his head. "…magical special."

"Pixel, I'm sorry," Robbie said quietly. The boy just nodded but otherwise remained motionless.

"It can't be real, though, I thought it was all just fairy stories- made up for little kids," the boy said after a few moments.

"How did you think Sportacus's crystal worked?" Robbie asked gently, trying his best not to make a mess of this.

Pixel looked up sadly, "I… didn't. I just assumed… but… you're right, how could that work without magic?" He laughed half-heartedly to himself, "I guess I shouldn've known all along… Especially after that genie…"

"That was a bit of a clue," Robbie admitted awkwardly.

The two sat in silence for a moment, Robbie not sure what to say and Pixel trying to process this. Magic… it made no sense. Pixel was just so enamored by science that he just couldn't imagine magic being real. How could it?

The young boy looked up at Robbie with a sad smile, "So if all your inventions are magic… I guess you can't really give me any pointers, huh?"

"I never realized that they were, I wouldn't even know how to teach you magic if you wanted to learn," Robbie said quietly. It was no surprise when Pixel shook his head furiously at the idea, which caused a small smile to come on Robbie's face.

"I'm… I think I'll go home now," Pixel said quietly, "Try to process this."

"Of course, I'm sorry that… I'm sorry that I'm not what you wanted me to be, I wish that I was," Robbie apologized again. The boy nodded before walking off.

Pixel's head was spinning. He decided not to go home, but to take a walk. Maybe getting some air would help. It was easy enough to walk in the less traveled parts of Lazytown to make sure he didn't run into anyone, especially since the kids were planning how they were going to save Sportacus… or whatever it was they were up to. Pixel frowned, nothing he cared to be up to most likely.

At some point he decided walking wasn't working. Stubbornly, he sat down cross-legged, his elbows on his knees and his head propped up on his fists.

"It was stupid to think that someone in this town would be interested in the same things as me…" Pixel muttered to himself. Then, Robbie certainly _seemed_ interested when he was explaining the bat to him, if not a bit lost… Robbie didn't seem like someone to feign interest without reason. Pixel sighed and then looked around.

He was right near the center of the city, where the kids spent most of their time playing. He looked up to where Sportacus's airship was floating, waiting to find out someone needed to be rescue. Waiting for his _magic crystal_ to tell him, that is.

'_Magic. Pfft._'

After a few moments grumbling about magic, the young boy realized that it probably wasn't the greatest idea to trust Robbie Rotten on something like this. He'd just ask Sportacus and Sportacus would deny it and, well, he probably wouldn't know the mechanics of it, but there'd be a perfectly logical explanation.

Pixel stood up and brushed himself off, walking to his house to get some paper. He had a letter to send.

Sportacus had never been so happy to receive mail as when he got Pixel's letter. It just read "I want to talk to you about some things", but that was great. The hero had never known what to do to help Pixel, and it was starting to feel like the boy needed something. Hopefully it was something Sportacus could at least help him to get.

As soon as he'd read the letter, he called for his skychaser and headed down to the postbox, where the boy was still waiting for him.

"Pixel!" He said eagerly, "I got your letter."

"I guessed that," Pixel said with a nervous smile. "I have something I wanted to ask you."

"Go ahead, you can ask me anything."

"How does your crystal work?"

Sportacus had been bouncing slightly on the balls of his feet, but stopped when he got that question. "Why do you ask that?" he asked, it was his turn to be nervous.

Pixel shrugged, "Just wondering- I like to know how things work. It's why I'm so into gadgets."

"Of course," the hero chuckled, that was obvious. He looked down at his crystal and licked his lips, "Ah… well, my crystal… It works by centuries old magic that's been passed down."

A gentle smile had been on the boy's face, trying to reassure the hero that it was just an innocent question. His whole face froze and the smile immediately started to look unnatural. Sportacus smiled nervously, not really sure what that reaction meant.

After a few moments, Pixel shook his head to try and clear his thoughts and quietly said, "So, it is true."

"Ah… yes," the hero said, "Who told you?"

"Robbie, I hoped he was lying." The hero was relieved to hear that was the source… well, somewhat relieved. It was unlikely anyone else knew, but he wasn't happy that Robbie had told anyone.

"Why did you hope that?"

Pixel looked up desperately at the hero, "Magic… it _**can't**_ be real, how can it be real?"

Sportacus's stomach shifted uncomfortably, "I'm sorry, Pixel, it… it just is."

The boy sat down on the ground with his head in his hands, trying to process this and not really caring that this wasn't quite the appropriate place to sit. The hero knelt down next to him.

"It doesn't make technology less valid, you know, your inventions are still amazing," he offered the boy, trying to work out the right thing to say.

Pixel shook his head, "But magic… it doesn't make sense scientifically. How can anything that science can't explain exist?"

"I don't know," the hero replied, now feeling considerably less than average.

The boy took a deep breath and straightened up. He could handle this. He could examine it just like he would anything else he didn't know, "Can anyone use magic, then?"

Sportacus froze at this. He didn't really want to answer the question. If Pixel was this upset about _magic_ being real, how much more upset would he be that elves exist? The hero smiled non-convincingly, "No, actually, I don't think any human can."

Pixel just stared at him for a few moments before motioning for him to continue.

"I'm, well, I'm an elf," Sportacus said with a shrug, pushing his hat off the ear facing pixel to show that it was pointed. Pixel immediately leaned over to look at it and prod at it to make sure it was real. Under any other circumstances Sportacus would have told him off for that and he had to bite his tongue not to.

"Sorry, I had to check," Pixel said quietly, sitting back and looking at the ground in front of him while Sportacus tugged his hat back into place and said nothing in response.

Pixel frowned, "What kind of elf are you? Is any of the mythology about elves true?"

"I suppose some of it is," Sportacus said, this wasn't his area of expertise. He knew some elves who actually enjoyed studying human lore and figuring out what was based on them, "I think a lot of human cultures have an idea of us in their folklore, maybe all of them, under different names. My family is mostly from Scandinavia, they consider us elves there."

"So if you were from Ireland you'd be a fairy?" Pixel asked with a grin.

The hero smiled broadly at Pixel's grin and laughed, standing up with a slight leap as he did, "I guess I would."

Pixel continued smiling for a moment, but it eventually faded and he found himself just staring off into space. The boy shook his head and stood up, "I'm gonna go home now. Thank you for answering my questions." Pixel said with a not-entirely convincing smile to the hero. He stood up and brushed himself off.

"Any time, Pixel," Sportacus said warmly, "If you ever need anything, I am here."

Pixel nodded with a half-smile, "Yeah, I know, thanks."


	4. Chapter 4

'_Magic?_' Robbie was pacing in his lair. Thinking about it, what he did _was_ more like magic than not but… How could he do magic? He never even realized it. No one had told him it was magic, his father taught him what he knew and had always just called it "inventing".

He shuddered, after working with that blasted elf he'd developed a distinct dislike for magic. He couldn't describe it, but when he looked into that elf's crystal this intense feeling of _wrong_ filled him. The same happened whenever he touched his walls now.

But he'd been using magic all along? How could that be when magic had that effect on him?

Robbie shook his head. There was only one person he could think of to ask about this. There was one person he distinctly did not want to ask about this.

"I'm not going to that blasted bouncing blue elf for advice!" He angrily told no one in particular, crossing his arms over his chest. But there was no one else to turn to, and he hadn't found any books on it in a language he spoke.

'_Where did my grandmother even get all those books?_' he thought to himself uncertainly, biting his lip. Most of his living relatives either wouldn't know or he didn't care to get into contact with, not that they'd be likely to know anything.

"Not right now," he announced, again to no one, it was a habit one got from living alone, "I will not think about this right now."

No, instead, he would bake a delicious cake using completely mundane means. Or, hopefully mundane means. He wasn't really sure which was which now.

"The only magical thing about baking is the taste," he reminded himself firmly, walking into the kitchen determinedly.

A half hour or so later, Robbie settled down into his chair, several layers of cake in the oven, a timer set, and everything he needed to top it ready. All he had to do now was relax. Maybe take a little nap, the timer would wake him up.

And, indeed, the timer would have. If he had not instead been woken up by someone falling out of the pipe and onto him. As one could imagine, this was not a pleasant way to be woken and he immediately shoved the intruder off.

Rather than a satisfying thud, which he'd been hoping for, this was met by furious stumbling and a shout of "Don't break my computer!"

"_What are you doing?"_ Robbie demanded furiously, wincing as he did, his ribs aching from the blow.

"You need to fix where that thing comes out- that's really dangerous!" Pixel replied angrily, holding a laptop in his arms.

Robbie simply stared at the boy for a few moments, rubbing his stomach. "Don't you know that you're _trespassing_ right now?"

Pixel looked down, "Um, well, you didn't answer when I knocked and I really wanted to get my bat back."

Robbie looked at his tool desk, where the electronic bat now lay. He looked at the boy with a sigh, "I doubt you'd ever go into another person's house just because they didn't answer the door. Why is it okay to enter mine?"

The boy fidgeted, a large knot forming in his stomach, "It… you… I… it isn't," he admitted, dropping his head.

"You, that blasted elf, that pink girl… I might as well declare this public property. Make it a proper town center," Robbie grumbled to himself, crossing his arms.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," Pixel said. Robbie looked up suspiciously. He was not going to change his home into a public place, surely the boy understood the idea of sarcasm. "Elves"

"What?" the man asked, something twisting uncomfortably in his stomach. It was just the growing bruise, surely.

"Well, after earlier, I talked to Sportacus and—" Pixel was interrupted by a loud alarm that caused him to jump and look around, frightened.

"Cake's done!" Robbie announced, happy both that his cake would soon be finished and also that he had a distraction. He rushed off into the kitchen before Pixel could continue what he was saying. Robbie hummed to himself as he got to work and tried to figure out how to pretend to be busy while the cakes cooled.

Pixel sighed and walked over to the table where his bat was sitting. He ran a hand over it gently. It would be scrapped for parts soon, it was a poor excuse to be here, but he had really wanted to talk to Robbie.

The man glanced over at what the boy was doing while pretending to be busy and paused. Pixel's shoulders were slumped, his head still hanging down. Robbie felt guilt stir in him and walked over. "So," he asked, crossing his arms and trying his best to appear aloof, "What was that about elves?"

"Oh, um, right…" Pixel sighed, "I should just leave- I shouldn't've come in in the first place."

"It's fine," Robbie said quietly, "that bat is amazing- I can understand why you wanted it back so badly."

Pixel looked up at him. "You think this is amazing?" he asked.

"And it works! That's better than anything I've made," Robbie pointed out, frowning to himself.

"My mom's the only person who's ever said that about something I made," Pixel placed his laptop on the table and picked up the bat, "And this is something to be scrapped for parts."

The tall man stared at him in a mix of disbelief and sympathy for a moment. He shook his head, "I've seen the things you've made- they _deserve_ praise."

The boy shrugged, "Not according to anyone else- it's just a waste of time."

Robbie snorted at that, "You can see why I live underground, not really anyone up there worth getting to know."

"Actually!" Pixel said eagerly, opening up his computer. The squirming returned to Robbie's stomach, but he ignored it. "I talked to Sportacus today and he told me that he's an elf and his family's from Scandinavia- I guess different parts- so I looked it up, and…"

He turned the computer over to the tall man, who gulped. He bent down to read the screen- 'Elves in Norse Mythology' was the page title. He looked up at Pixel, who was actually bouncing, making it impossible to read any more.

"I think this is it. They have light Elves and dark Elves- I think that's what Sportacus is, a light elf," Pixel went on, eagerly, turning his computer back to himself and reading it to confirm what he'd read, "Light elves come from, according to Norse Mythology, a world above our own- it seems more likely that they just like living high up. Because they've got magic, if they wanted to make cities in the clouds- I'm sure they could've, so it'd _seem_ like they lived in a world above ours."

"Which explains the stupid airship," Robbie said, trying to keep up with the boy, who was going a bit faster with excitement.

"And you living down here," Pixel added.

Robbie gulped at this, "Oh?"

"I said there are also dark elves- their world is _below_ ours," Pixel explained.

"You think I'm…?"

Pixel paused at this, "Sportacus said that humans can't use magic. But it seems like a union between an elf and a human is possible, so maybe you're just part elf."

'_That would explain the books_,' Robbie thought to himself, '_Sportacreep will probably be intolerably delighted to know they weren't stolen._'

"I, um, I kind of figured that if you were a full elf… you would know," Pixel said quietly.

"Can't argue with that logic," Robbie agreed with a sigh, "I take it dark elves and light elves don't get along?"

"They aren't really in a position to interact," Pixel said, "I think they mostly leave each other alone, there's nothing about wars or anything. Well, not that I've found. _Eurgh_ you seriously can't get internet down here, how can you _live_ like that?"

Robbie pretended to know what that last bit meant, "I suppose that would be why I can't stand Sportakook's magic."

"Huh?" Pixel asked, looking up from his vain attempt to find a wireless signal.

"Touch the wall."

Pixel did in confusion, "I guess it feels a little tingly. Why?"

"I can't stand touching it, it feels _wrong_."

"Interesting," Pixel furrowed his brow thoughtfully, "Then that may be part of why your plans fail- his magic doesn't agree with yours, and overpowers it."

"Exactly!" Robbie agreed eagerly.

"That and, well, a lot of your plans just aren't thought out very well at all," Pixel added, earning a dirty look from the man. "What? Like that one where you kept Sportacus from sleeping- if you'd _only_ done that the day before the game, he'd've been exhausted enough and we wouldn't've had time to figure out what was causing it."

Robbie crossed his arms stubbornly, "I didn't know if just one lost night of sleep was enough."

"Have it your way," Pixel replied, rolling his eyes as he went back to the page, "It's hard to find good information on it, though, since it's just considered mythology. I don't even know how much of it is exaggerated to make a better story. You need to find a better resource. I don't think anything online will be of much use."

'_I _have_ better resources_,' Robbie thought to himself bitterly, '_Just not in a language I know._'

"Better than nothing," Robbie said with a shrug.

Pixel gave the tall man a pointed look as he closed his laptop, "We both know who you could ask about this."

Robbie glared at him but Pixel just glared right back. This went on for a few moments.

"Fine," Pixel said, "You know- if you weren't so proud you could just ask him and get it over with," an idea popped into the boy's head and he shrugged, "or maybe it'll just _come up_ in conversation. He looked pretty upset that you told me his crystal was magic. It's really only fair for me to tell him that the way you make things is magic, too."

Robbie snarled. He was being blackmailed by a child, "_Fine_, tell Sportacreep whatever you want. But I won't be."

Pixel raised an eyebrow, "_Whatever_ I want?"

"Anything that's true- I'd_ hate_ to think that my _bad influence_ was making a liar out of you," he corrected, feigning horror at the idea of such a thing.

The gizmo guy chuckled, "Yeah, I'm _sure_ that's the _last_ thing you'd want." He picked his bat up and carefully lodged it under his arm above his computer. For a moment he paused and looked down at what he had, "Will you, um, let me know if you find out anything interesting?"

Robbie raised both of his eyebrows in slight surprise, "I suppose… If you let me know if you _make_ anything interesting."

"Sure thing," Pixel said with a grin. He paused for a moment, "Oh- next time you do a scheme involving magnets, can you tell me? They interfere with electronics. You may have messed up my wrist computer."

The tall man's face paled slightly, "I had no idea."

The boy shrugged, "I figured you didn't- it's no big deal, I'll just fix it when I get home."


	5. Chapter 5

'Robbie has some questions about magic that he needs you to answer, but won't ask you himself. You know what he's like.'

That was true enough. Pixel decided, after spending a few minutes trying to decide exactly what to write, that it would do. Despite his threat, he didn't really care to tell Sportacus anything more than that. For one thing, he didn't really _know_ anything more than that.

Of course, there was a chance Sportacus would just ignore it… He didn't seem too keen on talking about magic, and Robbie might be the last person he was willing to talk about it with.

"Maybe I should tell him in person," Pixel said to himself nervously, once again scrawling almost the same note he'd sent last time. 'I need to talk to you about something.'

He checked the time on the wrist computer, which hadn't really been broken. It was too late to do today. He really hadn't needed to check the time to know that. Seeing as he got home in time for dinner and it took him an hour or so afterwards to make sure the mini-computer was working up to his standards.

It would just have to wait until tomorrow, not that he was in too incredible a hurry. Pixel pulled his goggles down and placed the bat on his desk, getting ready to reduce it to scrap to be used in something else. Today he'd gotten a new idea for something to make.

As was pretty normal for Pixel (despite Sportacus's complaints regarding it), Pixel had gotten wrapped up in his project and ended up falling asleep far later than he should have- still at his work desk. The next day was Sunday, anyways, so it wasn't a big deal for him to sleep in. Sometime after noon he groggily woke up, pushed his goggles off his eyes before rubbing them. It didn't seem like he'd messed anything up by falling asleep on it. That was good.

In the back of his mind, something wriggled to be remembered. The boy decided he'd figure it out after getting some breakfast. And, about a half hour later and in the middle of taking a bite of some eggs, he did remember. He had to get Sportacus to talk to Robbie about magic. Well, that might be fun.

He got a quick shower, dressed in clean clothes, and walked outside. About the time he reached the mailbox he probably would have mentally kicked himself for not bringing anything to mail if Sportacus weren't, to no surprise of his, playing with the kids. It seemed they'd finally remembered that they didn't need toys to play and were now playing tag. Something inside Pixel squirmed awkwardly, when was the last time anyone had asked him if he wanted to play with them?

Pixel shook his head and started to work on the awkward task of figuring out how to get Sportacus away from the kids so he could ask. Started to, that is, until he noticed again the way that Stephanie looked at Sportacus. The boy grimaced. This could wait. It wasn't his problem, anyways.

* * *

Sportacus had noticed Pixel just in time to see him turning to leave. The slightly above average hero stopped, just in time for Ziggy to tag him 'it' before the kids stopped to find out what was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong, I just realized there's something I have to do!" Sportacus said cheerfully.

"Aww, do you have to? We were having fun," Stephanie pouted, and the other kids chimed in their agreement.

"And you can still have fun!" he reminded them, "You don't have to stop playing just because I have to go."

The children nodded that this was true, said their goodbyes, and started arguing about who was 'it' now. Sportacus rolled his eyes a bit at the argument before rushing off the way he'd seen Pixel leave.

It wasn't hard to catch up to Pixel, the boy was trudging along a bit more slowly than usual.

"Pixel!" he called, seeing the boy as he turned a corner.

The gizmo guy stopped in surprise and turned. This was not something he wanted to happen. "Oh, hey Sportacus."

"I saw you leave just now. Is something wrong?" he asked, catching up to the boy.

Pixel shook his head, "Not wrong… um…" he hadn't been sure how to say this when his stomach _wasn't_ twisted up with jealousy, it wasn't much easier now. "Robbie has some things he needs to ask you about magic."

"Robbie?" Sportacus asked with slight surprise, wondering exactly how much time Pixel had spent with the man lately.

"Yeah, he won't say it himself, obviously," Pixel said.

The hero wondered if something had gone wrong with the spell he'd put on Robbie's home, and started to get nervous, "Is it urgent?"

"Not really…" Pixel admitted, "But if you can, it'd be great if you could talk to him when you get the chance…"

Spotacus frowned. Robbie had not seemed that interested in magic last time it was brought up. In fact, he seemed to hate it a bit. He had no reason to think Pixel was lying, but couldn't help but wonder what had changed. He looked down at his crystal, it wasn't picking anything up.

"I will," he said, smiling to the boy, "Thank you for letting me know."

"No problem," he shrugged.

"Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

'_The girl I like only has eyes for you and you're oblivious,_' although it would be creepy if Sportacus returned the feelings, given the age difference, '_So nothing I want to talk to _you_ about_.' Pixel put on a grin that only looked a little forced, "Yup- nothing at all."

"Alright," the elf said sadly.

"I have to get back home now, see you around," the boy said and started to head home.

"Yeah, see you around," Sportacus echoed, not at all feeling like much of a hero at the moment.

* * *

Robbie was buried in his library. Well, not literally buried, but he was surrounded by piles of books that, while he was sitting down, towered over his head. There was a path out of the circle he'd made but the "path" was really just a pile short enough for him to step over.

The man had gone through and tried to sort out every last book on magic that he had. It was no surprise that every one that seemed to have any relation was in that language the first one was in. Irish or something. It started with an 'I' anyways.

He was determinedly pouring over one, trying to make sense out of it. It was not easy going. A small part of the man hoped that the boy would follow up on his threat to get Sportacus's help. He immediately shoved it to the back of his mind and scanned each line with more determination.

He did _not_ need that blasted elf's help.

Not at all.

He sighed at the page of the book, it still looked as much like gibberish as it ever had.

Maybe a little.

"Robbie?" he heard a voice call, and once again couldn't help but wonder why people seemed to think it was okay to come in without permission. This stopped as he realized who the voice belonged to and shuddered.

"I'm in the library, Sportaflop," he shouted back bitterly, glaring at the book. How dare the book force him to need the _hero_'s help?

"What is all this?" Sportacus asked as he looked into the room, assuming that Robbie was somewhere behind the massive tower of books but not really wanting to mess anything up. The floor was strewn with books and he decided it was safest to hover at the door for awhile.

Robbie stood up with a bit of trouble, he'd been sitting for too long and was rather stiff. "I spent the day sorting out my books," he explained grumpily.

"How did it go?" Sportacus asked, trying not to point out that, usually, things end up _more_ organized than they'd started when one sorted things out.

The man didn't answer, closing the book and staring silently at the pile of books he assumed was about magic.

The local hero cocked his head to one side, "Robbie?"

"What do you know about dark elves?" the man answered quietly, glancing over.

Sportacus scrunched his nose, "Nothing good. Why would you want to know about _them_?"

Robbie shoved down the feelings that comment had hurt and smirked, "Well, now I know that being slightly above average doesn't make someone slightly above racism."

"It's not racism, it's true!" the elf spluttered, "They eat people- some of them are even cannibals. They only ever use their magic for evil!"

"You've met a lot of dark elves, have you?" Robbie asked coolly, now trying to shove down the squirming feeling in his stomach.

"No…" he admitted, "But everyone always said…"

"Everyone says a lot of things," Robbie pointed out.

Sportacus looked down. He had always wanted to think the best of everyone. Even with everything the kids said about Robbie, he'd still held out hope that deep down the man was a decent person. Had he really let stories made to scare children judge an entire species unjustly?

"Why do you want to know about them?" Sportacus asked quietly, trying to smile but failing.

"I just do," the man muttered, placing a hand on the pile, "Can you tell me if any of these books have information on them? I think they're all in the same language as that first one."

"Of course," the elf said, gingerly walking over to the pile, carefully avoiding any books or anything else on the floor. Robbie watched this in surprise, he'd never seen Sportacus move so slowly. This had really upset him.

"It's not a big deal," Robbie said quietly as Sportacus picked up the first book and read through the table of contents.

The deflated elf looked up at this questioningly.

"If you'd only ever been told about all the bad a group does- it's not a big deal if you thought they were all bad."

"I'd only ever been told about all the bad you do, but I still didn't think you were all bad," Sportacus pointed out. Robbie rubbed his neck uncomfortably. "At some point," he continued, "I should have realized that I didn't _really_ know about them. But I never did." The elf paused as he picked up the next book and noticed the title of the one underneath it. He smiled, "You really know _nothing_ of Icelandic."

"I never needed to!" Robbie objected before curiosity got the better of him, "Why?"

Sportacus gently placed the book in his hands down and picked up the book he'd seen. He pointed to the title, "This means "Dark Elves"." He grinned as Robbie's eyes widened.


	6. Chapter 6

While all the other kids had been wrapped up in wondering why Sportacus had stopped playing, Trixie had followed his gaze to see Pixel walking off. She decided to let Sportacus try to handle it, but she still came up with an excuse to leave the game. The girl headed straight to Pixel's house and was there waiting for him when he got back, much to his surprise.

"Up for a video game?" she asked with a grin.

Pixel smiled at her, "Yeah, always."

"So, what'd you and the local hero talk about?" Trixie asked after the game had been set up and they were at a point where the two could talk.

Pixel grimaced, "I had to tell him something, no big deal."

"And why did you leave instead of talking to him in the town square?"

The boy pretended to be too engrossed in the game to come up with an answer. Trixie sighed.

"Still crushing on Pinky, then?"

"And she's still crushing on someone old enough to be her father," he snarled, making an attack with considerably more force than he usually preferred. It backfired on his character and he cursed at the controller.

Trixie rolled her eyes, "Yeah… it's kind of pathetic."

"I wouldn't care if she liked Stingy or something, it'd suck, but watching her drool over _Sportacus_ is just…" he just grimaced.

"And it's not like I can see him getting in a relationship or something," Trixie added, frowning. She could tell when Pixel was upset because he started to slip in video games and she had a chance of winning sometimes. Right now, she felt like she was playing against a newb.

Pixel looked over, his playing actually improved for it, "huh?"

Trixie shrugged, "I don't know, maybe if Sportacus weren't available she'd finally get over him." On occasion she actually considered trying to get Stephanie set up with one of the other boys just to get Pixel to stop pining after her. She didn't act on it.

"That might work…" Pixel said, returning to the screen and beginning to catch up to his friend. "But who? And how?"

"Aw, geez, come on! Sportacus is the most innocent person ever- he goes to sleep every freaking night at, like, 8 o'clock. _I_ don't go to bed until _10_ even on school nights. Don't try to set him up with someone," Trixie whined at him.

Pixel sighed. She was right. At that point he did what he really should have done awhile ago and just threw down the controller. "I'm sorry"

"What are friends for?" she pointed out, picking up his controller and quitting the game.

"Putting up with hopeless, angsty heartache?"

Trixie grinned at him, "Hey- just wait till I find someone I like. I am _so_ getting you back."

Pixel laughed, "Oh, right, building up "You owe me"s. I always forget that. And you'll be even worse- you'd have to _bully_ someone to get 'em to go out with you!"

"Oh!" Trixie gasped, grabbing the throw pillow next to her and smacking Pixel with it. "Or you could just _get over her already_ and then you wouldn't have to build up anything else."

Pixel groaned, both from being hit with the pillow and what she said, "It's not that easy!"

"Oh, I know, she's so amazing she's so this she's so that," Trixie said mockingly before glaring at him,"she is _so_ not interested."

"But only because of-" Pixel started.

Trixie attempted to grab the pillow back but Pixel held onto it, "You could just try asking her out."

The two stared at each other for a moment, surprised that this hadn't come up sooner. They were still pretty young.

"I… yeah," Pixel said, "That'll happen."

Trixie threw her hands up in the air and sat back on the couch.

Watching Sportacus read was simultaneously exhausting and infuriating. The elf, of course, couldn't just sit still to read the book. Various athletic feats were involved. And in this particular case, it also involved the occasional stopping completely, his brow furrowing.

Whenever this happened, Robbie attempted to ask what it was, but he was either ignored or got an answer in a thick accent about not knowing how to explain in English yet. After a few times of this, Robbie gave up and attempted to read something else. It wasn't going very well. He ended up just watching Sportacus nervously and trying to resist the urge to pace.

"I'm not sure what you wanted to know," Sportacus said after awhile. He hadn't read through the whole book but had read enough.

"Anything," Robbie said, leaning forward eagerly.

The elf nodded, "I… well, you were right," Robbie smiled smugly at this, "Most of the stereotypes come from small groups… Most dark elves stay underground, some of the worst ones come up here to cause trouble. Thanks to them, and suspicion because little is known about dark elves, any who want to come up here that aren't like that generally have to hide what they are more than light elves do." Sportacus sighed.

Robbie wasn't sure what to say to this, and didn't really say much. He felt a bit relieved to hear that.

"Will you please tell me why you wanted to know?" Sportacus asked gently.

The tall man just shrugged and sat back in his chair. He didn't really know what to say, didn't want to say even if he did. The slightly above average hero rolled his eyes and smiled a bit. Robbie could be such a child.

"Does the book say anything about the difference between dark and light elf magic?" Robbie asked quietly.

"Ah…" Sportacus flipped back to the table of contents, "Not exactly. But I know how light elf magic works, and it says how dark elf magic works." Robbie looked up at Sportacus, waiting to hear about this. The elf looked at the book awkwardly, suddenly feeling like a teacher. "Light elf magic… it comes mostly from the sun, because it's our nearest star, according to this dark elf magic comes from the Earth's core."

"That doesn't really explain why they don't agree with each other," Robbie said to himself, sitting back in the chair and biting his thumbnail as he thought about this.

"What?"

Robbie looked up and realized that he'd said that out loud. "Nothing," he insisted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Sportacus walked over to Robbie's chair, "No- what did you mean by that?"

"I think that…" Robbie started before shaking his head. He glared at the wall in front of him.

"No wonder you needed Pixel to be a go-between," the elf said, starting to feel annoyed. He didn't care for the feeling at all.

"Well, I'm sorry that I don't feel like sharing my identity crisis," the man muttered, trying not to be disconcerted by the tone in Sportacus's voice.

Sportacus gave a sympathetic smile at that, his patience returning, "Would it be easier to tell me what happened?"

Robbie sulked for a moment at being treated like a child. Not that he didn't deserve it, he was acting like one. With a heavy sigh he straightened up and spoke slowly and deliberately, "Pixel, of course, figured out how my latest 'scheme' worked and asked how I'd made the things involved. I got him to show me how _his_ bat worked first and while I watched him explain everything I realized that what I do has _no_ basis in engineering or technology."

The elf raised an eyebrow at that, "What did you think before?"

"I'd just been taught it as inventing by my father and didn't really question how it worked," he shrugged.

Sportacus bounced on the balls of his feet nervously, "I don't think that humans can use magic."

"Yeah, I know," Robbie said gently, "That's why I want to know about dark elves."

"Oh," the hero said quietly, suddenly hit by extreme guilt at what he had said before about them. "I didn't realize, what I said when you first asked I just…"

The man stood up and glared at him, "Don't."

Sportacus stopped moving completely and started at Robbie in surprise. He was not expecting that reaction, "What?"

"What you were saying- don't. Just because you wouldn't have said it if you knew I thought I might be one, you still thought it. Don't apologize for saying it- apologize for thinking it at all," Robbie said firmly, crossing his arms.

The elf stared at the man for a few moments, before looking down. "You're right. I just feel worse about it. I shouldn't have thought it in the first place, but I still feel bad that I said that when you…" He trailed off, it didn't matter. He laughed sadly, "I'm not very good at this."

Robbie's face softened and he almost smiled but instead just shrugged, "Do you know anything about human-elf hybrids?"

"It happens sometimes," Sportacus said, once again bouncing on the balls of his feet, "Well- it does with light elves, but I imagine it's similar. The blood gets weaker with each generation, after 4 or 5 generations the most they can do is make plants grow a little faster, small stuff. After 8 there's no real difference between them and any other human."

"That makes sense," Robbie nodded, quickly doing the mental math to figure out that 8 generations would make the person 1/128 elf.

"What are you thinking you are?"

He shrugged, "The books came from my grandmother, so I'd guess a quarter. I don't have anyone to ask.""

Sportacus resisted the urge to give the man a look of sympathy, certain that Robbie would reactbadly to it. He nodded, "Your father taught you, right? 2nd generation elves can still do a good amount, it just takes more energy out of them." The elf smiled uncertainly, "You probably integrated _some _mechanics with your magic to make up for that."

"You just said that last bit to make me feel better, didn't you?" the man asked grumpily.

"Doesn't mean I don't believe it," he replied with a warm smile. Robbie just sulkily looked away, refusing to be amiable. Sportacus sighed before remembering what had started this line of conversation. "What _did_ you mean when you said they don't agree with each other?"

Robbie tapped his chin for a moment, trying to decide if he should answer or try a demonstration. He didn't really know how, though. He glanced over at his work bench and saw the baseball that he'd magnetized. He walked over, picked it up and tossed it to the elf saying, "Tell me how this feels."

Robbie would be the first person to admit that he was not the most amazing at throwing a ball, but he'd managed to throw it so that Sportacus could catch it where he was without much trouble. That was, of course, not the sport elf's style and instead he did a complicated series of flips to catch it. It was actually a more complex display than it usually would be, but he hadn't properly been able to move around in awhile. Robbie resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he wanted to see what happened when the elf caught it.

And the elf did catch it, with some finesse. The grin faded as soon as he did and he immediately dropped it, shaking his hand as if it'd been hurt.

"What _is_ that?" He asked, turning a hurt look to Robbie.

"Dark elf magic," Robbie said awkwardly, "Did it hurt that badly?"

Sportacus shook his head, "It didn't _hurt_… it just-"

"-felt wrong?" Robbie interrupted.

The elf nodded. "I see what you mean." He looked at the ball warily and then at his hand, "I don't know why that would happen," he frowned, "I don't think that that _should_ happen.


	7. Chapter 7

Sportacus had skimmed the table of contents of all the books Robbie had to see if any might be useful and, after figuring out which ones might have information they needed, they ended up splitting up the books. Robbie would be able to get a dictionary & grammar guide to let him cobble out a translation, and he wrote down any phrases that seemed like idioms or words that weren't in it to ask Sportacus about later. The local hero could just read them, but this was obviously a more time consuming task for him than most people, and the thought of spending a few days _just_ reading, not playing outside with the kids, seemed like torture.

If Robbie finished all the translation he could, he was supposed to send Sportacus a letter letting him know about it (although the light elf couldn't help but suspect that he'd spend a day or two sulking about having to first). Sportacus would just visit Robbie whenever he'd finished with what he was reading. If either of them thought they'd found the answer to why dark and light magic reacted badly to each other (and they determined it had- Sportacus tried casting a basic spell on the dark magic'd basketball, and there was a small "explosion" that knocked the dark magic out of it, but the spell didn't stick either), they were to get ahold of the other and not bother finishing the other books.

Robbie sincerely wished that he could have been doing this with something simpler. Maybe children's books. There were elf children, why didn't he have any books written for them? He got the distinct impression that what he was doing was a bit like trying to translate Shakespeare- florid prose and the occasional grammar or spelling rule stretched to make it flow more smoothly.

It got easier as he went along, but was still hard. He stopped having to look up some words, was starting to learn the grammar rules, which made it quicker. But after a few days of this, his brain buzzing with letters he couldn't pronounce, he was more than happy to hear someone knocking on the entrance to his lair. This was a reaction that particular sound had never gotten out of him.

He eagerly dropped the book and hurried over to open the hatch. He was somewhat surprised to find that the person at the door was Pixel, who was holding something behind his back. The man simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"You told me to let you know if I made anything interesting," the boy said shyly. Robbie laughed happily at the sound of English.

"So I did! You made something then?" he asked, craning his neck to see what the boy was holding behind his back.

"It's better if I show it to you inside," Pixel said uncertainly, a bit thrown off by Robbie's laughter.

"Hm, alright then," the man said, disappearing down the pipe to make way for the boy. Pixel looked around for a moment, long enough for Robbie to clear out of the way, before jumping down after him.

"What have you been doing?" Pixel asked, looking at the open books and the hastily scrawled notes.

"_Translating_," Robbie spat.

Pixel raised an eyebrow, "I didn't know you spoke any other languages."

"I happen to be rather fluent in French- but I'm not in this particular one. I'm just translating via a dictionary and grammar guide."

"You can do that?" the boy asked.

Robbie shrugged, "In the most literal sense, and not very well." Pixel nodded. The man clapped his hands together, "Anyways- what did you want to show me?"

The boys eyes widened at that, he had actually forgotten. He pulled a box out from behind his back, placed it on the work desk and grinned at Robbie as he pulled the top part of the box off.

The tall man raised his eyebrows in surprise at what Pixel had brought. It was a close replica of the robotic dog he had made before. "What does it do?"

"Well, obviously it doesn't attack anyone," Pixel said somewhat sternly, Robbie rolled his eyes. "I haven't programmed it to do anything yet. I was trying to think of a way it could act as a guard dog that didn't involve attacking anyone, because you complained that people kept barging in.…"

"Really?" Robbie asked, surprised that the boy would make something for him like that.

The boy nodded, too wrapped up in his thoughts to notice Robbie's tone of voice. "Maybe if there's a way to hook it up to the locking mechanism so that way it can unlock the pipe to let people in and keep it locked so that they can't get in if you don't want them to. But there'd still have to be a manual way you could use just in case…"

"How would it know whether or not to let someone in?" the man asked, still trying to process that someone had _made_ something like this for _him_.

Pixel grinned and pointed to the eyes, "I put a camera in, so the dog can act like a peephole. We'd just need it attached to a screen down here so you can see who it is and then send a signal whether or not to let them in."

Robbie shook his head, and Pixel's face fell, expecting something bad. "I can't believe you made this, this is amazing."

The boy smiled awkwardly, "Well, I'd rather my inventions go to someone who'll use them… Most of them end up collecting dust in my room or scrapped for parts."

Robbie shook his head again, looking at the dog, "I still can't believe it, you made this just for me?"

"Yeah… I remembered that one dog you made, so I thought you might like it."

"I do."

Pixel looked at him nervously for a moment, "Um, I was also figuring that it'd only be a beta, and after I get all the bugs worked out and figure out how it needs to be set up, I could program it to just act like a pet dog."

"You really don't have to go to all that trouble," Robbie insisted, feeling very undeserving.

Pixel smiled, "I learned how to do this stuff because both of my parents taught me. I can make thinks for them- but it's nothing compared to what they can do. It really is nice making something for someone who appreciates it. And this lets me try out things that I wouldn't think to do for myself."

The tall man shook his head yet again and shrugged, "Alright, if you insist."

The gizmo guy crossed his arms, "I do." He placed the box back over the robotic dog, "I'll need to take it back to program it and start setting things up. I'm not sure how to get a feed all the way down here. How does your periscope work?"

"Guess," Robbie said with a sigh.

Pixel nodded, frowning as he looked at the box, "I don't know if I could find a way to integrate magic with this… do you know anything about that?"

"All my resources were written before _cars_ had been invented, there's not too much on this."

The boy shrugged as he picked up the box, "I'll figure something out."

After the boy had left, Robbie supposed he was supposed to return to translating. He picked up the book of words that were starting to make some sense, his notes which occasionally veered off into cursing this language (those bits were scribbled out so Sportacus wouldn't pester him for it). He felt a headache coming on. Besides, he doubted that the blasted sports elf had been putting nearly this much effort into it. Probably spending all day playing with those brats.

But what to do instead… Robbie tapped his chin as he thought. For some reason, the forest came into his head.

There was a forest outside of Lazytown that Robbie had never properly appreciated. Not that he ever cared to. Forests were dirty and full of bugs and other sort of creatures. Not a place he cared to spend much time.

And yet, right now, he felt like it was the best place he could go. It would almost certainly be deserted, at least. Unlike most of the town. Hopefully he wouldn't regret this.

After reaching the forest, there was one thing he quickly realized about it. It was completely out of the way. He couldn't hear the sounds of those insufferable children playing with that blasted elf.

"It's very… peaceful," he murmured to himself, looking around. Some sun managed to filter through the leaves of the trees. It was summer, moss grew on the floor in some places. He placed his hand on the tree nearest him. He looked up, eyes following the branches to the top of the tree.

Robbie remembered his biology lessons, about how the leaves took in energy from the sun to conduct photosynthesis, taking in carbon dioxide through the bottom of the leaf and water and other nutrients from the roots.

The tall man frowned at that thought, this time his eyes following the trunk down to the root system. Plants took energy from both the sun and earth. There was an idea there… somewhere. At least a metaphor.

He sighed, sitting down at the base of the tree. It was an old tree, large. Its gnarled roots came up out of the earth. In some places, it formed hollows that rainwater had collected in. The tall man settled himself on the ground between two bits of roots and just leaned his head against the tree. It was surprisingly comfortable.

Robbie frowned to himself and moved his hand to the ground, digging his fingers into the dirt. It felt oddly comforting. Maybe there was something to gardening.

"You're the last person I'd expect to see here."


	8. Chapter 8

"You're the last person I'd expect to see here." Robbie didn't need to look up to tell who had said that, but he did anyways, and was not terribly surprised to see Sportacus sitting in the higher branches of a nearby tree.

"I'm allowed to try new things," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest, "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be playing with those brats?"

The elf rolled his eyes, "They're getting better at playing without me, which should happen," he sighed wistfully, "Eventually they won't need me anymore." That was the way it should be, of course, it was just a bit sad.

Robbie looked up uncertainly, "What will you do when they don't?"

"If no one needs me here… I'll have to leave to find somewhere that does," the hero replied. It was the most painful part of being a hero, having to leave once you were no longer needed.

The man looked away.

Sportacus sighed, deciding that this was not a proper distance for a conversation. He navigated through the branches nimbly, quickly landing on the ground. He took off his hat and walked over to where Robbie was sitting, "I only have to leave if no one needs me."

Robbie wanted to grumble something about not caring, but couldn't get the words out. He looked up uncertainly at the elf. "You aren't wearing your hat."

The local hero shrugged, "I remember you said I looked better without it."

Robbie looked away and nodded. It was true. "You said you didn't like taking it off because it showed your ears."

"I don't mind, there's no one else around."

The tall man looked up, about to make a sarcastic comment, but saw that the blue elf was actually _blushing_ and looking self-conscious. It was possibly the most adorable thing ever. All he could manage was to rub the back of his neck and say, "that makes sense." Mentally he shook himself, trying to clear his head. "Anyways, I've been trying to get rid of you since you came, what do I care if you leave?"

"You really still want me to leave?"

Robbie looked up guiltily at the sad tone in the elf's voice. He couldn't bring himself to say that he didn't, though. The elf sighed and walked over, sitting in front of the man.

"What do you want?" he asked gently. Robbie just shrugged, knowing that he was acting like a child. He couldn't help it. Sportacus sighed, "Do you hate me?"

At this, the man looked up in alarm, only to see a gentle smile on the elf's face. "No." That was probably as much as he was willing to admit, even to himself, and he said it very grumpily.

"Then why do you want me to leave?"

He shrugged, watching the elf out of the corner of his eye. Sportacus's smile had disappeared and he looked sad. Robbie sighed heavily, "I… don't."

"Thank you," the elf said quietly, he knew that couldn't have been easy for Robbie. He didn't know why, though, and wished he did. "Robbie, why did you come to the forest?"

"I felt like I should, and I needed a break from translating," the man said, his face heating up slightly when Sportacus said his name like that. "Why were you here?"

The elf closed his eyes, tilted his face up and smiled peacefully, Robbie looked up to see it better. It was a nicer smile than his usual energetic grins. "I love forests. There's something wonderful about being surrounded by nature. I come here when I need a break or need to think about something."

"You need breaks?" Robbie asked, "From what?"

Sportacus looked at the man and smiled sadly, looking a bit ashamed of himself, "Truthfully, from being a hero. From being around people who look up to me and think I can do no wrong. From having to be perfect."

The tall man nodded, he'd never thought about that. "That sounds exhausting."

"Only sometimes," the elf said with a laugh, trying not to point out that _everything_ sounded exhausting to Robbie. "It's wonderful, too, but no one can keep that up all the time."

"Why don't you just go to your ship?"

"Well, my ship is also designed for training," he ignored Robbie's eyeroll, "Not exactly great for getting away from that."

The two fell into a comfortable silence. Sportacus placed his hands behind him so he was leaning back a bit, watching the leaves above them rustling in the wind. Robbie just watched him, curious to see the elf be still for so long.

After a bit, Sportacus noticed that he was being watched and nervously ran a hand through his hair, "What?"

The tall man looked away immediately, rubbing his neck again, "I've never seen you sit still so long."

"Something about forests and trees," the elf said, still feeling self-conscious, "I actually can. In the town, around concrete and buildings, I can't."

Maybe that was why so there was so much folklore about elves and forests. Robbie pondered on that for a moment before asking, "Why don't you stay somewhere that you can live around nature?"

Sportacus sighed, sometimes he wished he could, "I like being a hero too much- and there aren't many people who live in nature any more. Most places that need me are paved over."

Robbie frowned at the reminder that Sportacus was going to leave someday, despite trying his best not to care.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," the man replied gruffly, wondering if that could sound less believable. Probably not.

Sportacus pushed himself up and leaned forward a bit, "Why don't you trust me?"

The man shrunk into himself slightly and gave the elf a suspicious look. "I don't trust anyone," he said firmly, disliking that the elf was questioning this. He preferred it that way. Trusting people meant opening yourself up. It meant getting hurt.

The elf nodded sadly to that, leaning back a little. He'd been starting to feel bad about spending so much time with the children and others. Maybe they were the ones most likely to fall off a ladder, but they clearly weren't the only citizens of Lazytown that needed saving. If he'd paid more attention to Robbie as a person beyond his plots, he probably would've noticedhis use of magic and helped him to accept it not long after he'd gotten to Lazytown, rather than all this time later. But it was too late to change that, no point dwelling on it.

He looked over Robbie for a few moments, then leaned back and returned to watching the leaves when the man became visibly uncomfortable with the attention. "You never answered my question- what do you want?"

"I don't know what you mean," Robbie muttered, pulling his knees to his chest and hugging them.

"Just, something you want. I'd like it to be something I could do for you, but anything you want," the elf said, looking at him with a comforting smile.

"Why do you care?"

"Because you deserve to get what you want, Robbie," Sportacus said simply.

Robbie sulked into his knees for a moment, "Why aren't you working on the books?"

"I have been," he replied, "Although not as often as I could, it's hard between everything and—" he groaned then laughed to himself, "I really should bring them here. That'd make it a lot easier."

"Yeah," Robbie muttered.

"How has it been going for you?" Sportacus asked, looking at the other man with a smile.

The man grimaced, "It's not really easy to translate from a language you don't know. I think it has a lot of idioms that don't make sense, too."

The light elf nodded, rubbing his chin as he started thinking about this, "Maybe we should both work on the books here." Robbie looked at him skeptically. "I can read while staying still, and help you with anything you need. We'd both get done faster."

Robbie grumbled something but ultimately nodded reluctantly. Great, now he had to spend _more_ time with the elf. Of course, if he really could sit still then it didn't bother him as much. It would certainly be helpful.

"You said you came here to get a break from that, though. Maybe we can start tomorrow," Sportacus leaned back. He didn't really need a break from translating. It was going to be hard to figure out how to explain some of the concepts in English, but it was refreshing to read his native tongue. But he probably _could_ afford to spend time relaxing. He didn't do that often enough.

Sportacus stood up and walked over to the tree, sitting down on some of the roots a bit away from Robbie and leaning against the trunk with a happy sigh. Robbie pulled his knees a bit closer, feeling a bit jealous that the blasted elf could relax so easily around other people. He looked up, once again noticing that the elf's hat was off. Or maybe it was just around him. Robbie rested his chin on his knees and looked away.

After a moment of that, Robbie stood up, "I have to go."

The elf looked up, startled, "I will see you tomorrow, right?"

The man looked back nervously, "Er, yeah, the books… I guess 3?"

"Sure," he smiled warmly, "I'll be here."

Robbie smiled back uncertainly, rubbing his neck again. He left without saying anything else. Part of him wanted to skip out, but for some reason he knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to.

* * *

And thus Robbie found himself trudging to the forest sometimes around 3. It was a bit later because he spent at least 10 minutes deciding he wasn't going to go before finally giving in and throwing the books and notes into a bag. He felt like an awkward highschool student again. It was not a pleasant feeling.

He really didn't want to be there, he kept trying to convince himself he didn't anyways. The forest _was_ a very calming place to be, and this _would_ get done faster and the elf wasn't _quite_ so intolerable when he could actually stay still. The tall man sighed, trying not to think there might be another reason he was feeling like an awkward teenager again.

He got a bit into the forest, still pondering the benefits of leaving right now. He could, if he wanted. While contemplating this he came into view of where they were supposed to be meeting. Sportacus was already there, but hadn't seen him. Not really sure what else to do, Robbie did the mature thing and hid behind a thing while thinking that this was his last chance to leave.

He glanced around the tree at the elf, still trying to convince himself to read. The elf was sitting on one of the roots of the tree with a book open on his lap, but it didn't seem like he was really reading it. The fingers of one of his hand were tapping against the page and he looked to be biting his lip. He also wasn't wearing his hat again.

Guilt washed over the self-proclaimed but gradually failing to live up to the title villain. He sighed as he walked around the tree and over to the elf.

As soon as Sportacus noticed the man he stood up with a bright grin, "You came!"

Robbie couldn't deny that he deserved the surprise in that statement. He nodded nervously and held up the bag, "I brought the books and my notes…"

"Let's get started then."


	9. Chapter 9

It was strange to Robbie to hear how naturally and comfortably Sportacus read the books. He wasn't reciting them, but whenever he explained what some idiom meant, the Icelandic rolled off his tongue easily. His English was excellent, but it didn't feel as natural as this. The man wondered if he missed being able to speak his native tongue.

Thankfully, the elf was patient enough to not laugh at Robbie's awkward attempts at pronouncing various things. Sometimes he'd correct Robbie gently, and whenever Robbie got something correct without prompting the elf's eyes sparkled.

This was probably taking more time than Sportacus reading the books on his own. It may even be a bit longer than when Robbie was just translating on his own, though more accurate.

"Nothing in that one," the light elf said bitterly when they finished the first book. Robbie stared at it, now closed, shocked that they had gotten through an entire book. He then looked up at Sportacus, bitter was not a tone he was used to from the local hero. Sportacus looked… defeated. Robbie remembered a time when he would have been overjoyed to see this, but now it caused him to feel a pain in his chest.

"It's alright," Robbie told him quietly.

The elf smiled sadly at him, "I don't know if we're going to find the answer to this, it just upsets me."

"Why?"

"What do you mean?"

Robbie rubbed his neck, looking away from the elf, "I want to know because I'm a curious person. I want to know how things work. I don't know why you care."

There was no answer to that. After a moment Sportacus said, "I guess we should take a break before trying the next one." He stood up and took a few steps, leaning against a tree. His posture was slumped, and Robbie couldn't figure out why.

After Sportacus had stood up, Robbie realized exactly how close the two had ended up. For more than half of that book, the two had been sitting right next to each other. The man's cheeks heated up, and he curled his legs up to himself and rested his forehead against his knees. Even physically, he hadn't been that close to someone else for so long in a very long time. What had happened to his defenses? Why was his guard down?

"Robbie, are you alright?" Sportacus called. He had turned around to say something, and saw the state the man was in. Without looking up or moving otherwise, Robbie gave the elf a thumbs-up.

This did nothing to convince him.

Quietly Sportacus walked over to him and asked, as gently as he could, "Did something happen?"

Robbie shook his head, wishing the damn elf would just leave him alone. He brought his head up but refused to look at Sportacus. "I just need…" he couldn't think of how to explain it.

"Anything," the elf told him gently.

Robbie groaned, throwing his head back and placing his hands on his face. Sportacus leaned back instinctively at that, shocked. "Don't say that!" Robbie moaned and, without thinking, added, "I don't want to trust you." He curled back into himself after this, silently cursing that he'd said that.

Sportacus sat back sadly, "Why not?"

Robbie looked up at Sportacus, his face contorted into a furious glare. The elf smiled gently at him. The man looked away, "Why do you want me to?"

Sportacus scratched his cheek nervously, "Because… I want to get to know you better."

They both sat in what would have been silence if not for the sound of the forest. Robbie squeezed his eyes closed and the elf wished that he knew what to do. The man was clearly in pain, but he had no idea how to fix it. Some hero.

"I don't want to get hurt." It was a whisper so soft that Sportacus had almost missed it. He thanked whatever deities would listen that he hadn't, certain that Robbie would never repeat this.

The elf leaned slightly closer to Robbie, but not too close to try and avoid upsetting him. "Robbie, please look at me," he asked quietly, the man opened his eyes and looked at the elf from the corners of them. That would do. "I will never hurt you."

The eyes shut again. Nervously, the elf placed a hand on Robbie's shoulder. The man flinched at it.

"I am so sorry, Robbie."

That got a reaction. The man looked up in confusion, his head and torso turning so he could see the elf. "What for?"

"For all the time I've been in Lazytown," he answered, "that I never helped you. I failed to be the hero you needed."

Robbie shook his head, covering his face with his hand. "Doesn't matter," he said, his voice thick, "I never wanted your help."

"I still should have offered it."

"Why are you saying this?" Robbie asked, hand still covering his face.

Sportacus sighed, "Because you deserve it. You deserved better."

Robbie wiped his hand across his face, trying to remove any evidence of tears, before letting it fall to his side. He brought his other hand up to his shoulder and placed it over the hand that was still there. The elf smiled at him. He stared at the ground in front of him.

"Why do you care so much about finding out why dark and light magic doesn't mix?" he asked again.

"Does it matter?" Robbie shot a glare at him, and Sportacus bit his lip. "I guess… I care because… I don't like the idea that any part of us is hardwired to be wrong."

"It's not hardwired to be wrong, it just doesn't agree," Robbie pointed out nervously.

The elf smiled sadly at him, "I know, but I mean…" he took a deep breath and sighed, looking down, "It's like we're hardwired to be wrong for each other."

"What?"

Sportacus looked up with a slightly strained smile and took his hand back, "Don't think anything of it."

Robbie shook his head and started fidgeting with his hands, "Please tell me?" The elf laughed nervously, running his hand through his hair and looking away. Robbie watched this as his stomach squirmed and his brain tried to come up with other reasons the elf could be acting like this, "Do you not trust me?"

"I want to," Sportacus said quietly, "But I don't want to get hurt either."

"Could telling me hurt you?" he asked, the elf nodded. Robbie swallowed nervously and shifted so he was sitting next to Sportacus, placing his arm around the elf's shoulders. Sportacus looked up at him questioningly.

"I can't say I wouldn't hurt you, you're right not to trust me, but I'm sorry that you can't," Robbie said quietly, looking away.

"It's alright," the elf said, "I'm just glad you trust me as much as you do." Robbie looked over at Sportacus to see a wistful smile on his face, the elf was looking up at the leaves again. With a sigh he leaned his head against Robbie's shoulder, causing the man's face to heat up again and quickly turn away, "Thank you for coming today."

"Why did you want me to?" Robbie asked quietly.

The elf sighed and straightened back up, looking at Robbie with a sad smile, "Lately… I've been wanting to spend more time with you, this was the only thing I knew you'd be interested in doing."

Robbie laughed nervously. He was starting to get an idea of what was going on and he was frightened of the thought that it might be true almost as much as that it might not. "Why do you want to spend time with me?"

The elf looked away again, "If I tell you, will you stop?"

"I don't think so," he said quietly. There were a few painful moments of silence as Sportacus tried to decide if that was enough and Robbie tried to process what was happening.

"I like you, Robbie," Sportacus said quietly, turning back to look at the man whose face heated up at the way the elf had said his name. Sportacus smiled at that.

"What kind of like?" Robbie asked nervously.

The elf bit his lip for a moment, "Well, the kind of like… that makes me want to hold you and kiss you and make sure nothing hurts you again."

Robbie's eyes widened slightly before he turned away and squeezed his eyes closed again, "You're not lying?"

Sportacus sighed, turning slightly and reaching over a hand to gently turn Robbie's face back towards me. The man opened his eyes nervously. "Never." The elf swallowed, "Do you like me?"

"I don't want to get hurt," Robbie said in reply, "I… can't believe that you do."

The elf rested his head against Robbie's shoulder again, "I don't know how to convince you."

Tensely, Robbie moved his arm from the elf's shoulders, causing a moment of panic for Sportacus, but he only did just enough that he could start playing with the elf's hair. The elf blushed but sighed happily at that. He wanted to ask what prompted Robbie to start doing this, but didn't want to risk him stopping.

"Be patient with me," Robbie said quietly.

Sportacus smiled, "Happily."

"What about what other people will think?"

"I don't know," the elf said sadly, "I know you don't want to stop being seen as a villain, this wouldn't help your image."

Robbie looked at him in surprise, "I'm more worried about _your_ image!"

Sportacus looked up at him with a gentle smile, "Don't worry about me. It'll be alright."

The man shook his head with a sigh, "I wish I could be as confident about that as you are."

"You just need to have faith in people," the hero told him. Robbie didn't answer that. It was the last thing he wanted to have. Having faith just in the do-gooder elf was making him want to lock himself in his room and never come out again. Faith in the town that had made him an outcast? No thank you.

Robbie took a deep breath and cautiously rested his head against the elf's. Sportacus responded by looking one of his arm's around the man's waist, causing him to tense up for a moment before hesitantly relaxing into it.

"Do you still want to find out why our magic disagrees?" Robbie asked him quietly.

"As long as you do," Sportacus replied, "I enjoyed going over the book with you."

"So did I."

"Do you want to start on another one?"

"Actually," Robbie said quietly, "I'd rather just stay like this for awhile."


End file.
